PrintStream Power
While there is currently no generalizable equation or universal law describing what a river channel should look like, a vast array of field data and modeling has culminated in some useful generalities. Stream power, defined as the product of water density (about 1000 kg/m3), gravitational acceleration (9.8 m/s2), discharge (m3/s), and channel slope (m/m), is one useful predictor of channel form and dynamics because it quantifies the amount of ‘work’ that can be done by a stream, such as moving sediment on the bed or in the banks of the river (i.e., erosion or sediment transport). For example, braided rivers tend to have more stream power than single threaded meandering rivers because their channel slope tends to be higher as they often flow closer to mountains (on steeper topography).